Nuclear Power Plant Accidents
One of the worst nuclear accidents to date was the Chernobyl disaster which occurred in 1986 in Ukraine. That accident killed 30 people directly, as well as damaging approximately $7 billion of property. A study published in 2005 estimates that there will eventually be up to 4,000 additional cancer deaths related to the accident among those exposed to significant radiation levels. Radioactive fallout from the accident was concentrated in areas of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. Approximately 350,000 people were forcibly resettled away from these areas soon after the accident.
Benjamin K. Sovacool has reported that worldwide there have been 99 accidents at nuclear power plants from 1952 to 2009 (defined as incidents that either resulted in the loss of human life or more than US$50,000 of property damage, the amount the US federal government uses to define major energy accidents that must be reported), totaling US$20.5 billion in property damages. Fifty-seven accidents have occurred since the Chernobyl disaster, and almost two-thirds (56 out of 99) of all nuclear-related accidents have occurred in the USA. There have been comparatively few fatalities associated with nuclear power plant accidents.
| Date | Location | Description | Deaths | Cost (in millions 2006 $US) |
INES level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01957-10-10October 10, 1957 | Sellafield, Cumberland, United Kingdom | A fire at the British atomic bomb project destroyed the core and released an estimated 750 terabecquerels (20,000 curies) of radioactive material into the environment. | 0 | 5 | |
| 01961-01-03January 3, 1961 | Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States | Explosion at SL-1 prototype at the National Reactor Testing Station. All 3 operators were killed when a control rod was removed too far. | 3 | 22 | 4 |
| 01966-10-05October 5, 1966 | Frenchtown Charter Township, Michigan, United States | Partial core meltdown of the Fermi 1 Reactor at the Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station. No radiation leakage into the environment. | 0 | ||
| 01969-01-21January 21, 1969 | Lucens reactor, Vaud, Switzerland | On January 21, 1969, it suffered a loss-of-coolant accident, leading to a partial core meltdown and massive radioactive contamination of the cavern, which was then sealed. | 0 | 4 | |
| 01975-01-011975 | Sosnovyi Bor, Leningrad Oblast, Russia | There was reportedly a partial nuclear meltdown in Leningrad nuclear power plant reactor unit 1. | |||
| 01975-12-07December 7, 1975 | Greifswald, East Germany | Electrical error causes fire in the main trough that destroys control lines and five main coolant pumps | 0 | 443 | 3 |
| 01976-01-05January 5, 1976 | Jaslovské Bohunice, Czechoslovakia | Malfunction during fuel replacement. Fuel rod ejected from reactor into the reactor hall by coolant (CO2). | 2 | 4 | |
| 01977-02-22February 22, 1977 | Jaslovské Bohunice, Czechoslovakia | Severe corrosion of reactor and release of radioactivity into the plant area, necessitating total decommission | 0 | 1,700 | 4 |
| 01979-03-28March 28, 1979 | Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, United States | Loss of coolant and partial core meltdown due to operator errors. There is a small release of radioactive gases. See also Three Mile Island accident health effects. | 0 | 2,400 | 5 |
| 01984-09-15September 15, 1984 | Athens, Alabama, United States | Safety violations, operator error, and design problems force a six year outage at Browns Ferry Unit 2. | 0 | 110 | |
| 01985-03-09March 9, 1985 | Athens, Alabama, United States | Instrumentation systems malfunction during startup, which led to suspension of operations at all three Browns Ferry Units | 0 | 1,830 | |
| 01986-04-11April 11, 1986 | Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States | Recurring equipment problems force emergency shutdown of Boston Edison’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant | 0 | 1,001 | |
| 01986-04-26April 26, 1986 | Chernobyl, Ukrainian SSR | Overheating, steam explosion, fire, and meltdown, necessitating the evacuation of 300,000 people from Chernobyl and dispersing radioactive material across Europe (see Chernobyl disaster effects) | 56 direct; 4,000 cancer | 6,700 | 7 |
| 01986-05-04May 4, 1986 | Hamm-Uentrop, Germany | Experimental THTR-300 reactor releases small amounts of fission products (0.1 GBq Co-60, Cs-137, Pa-233) to surrounding area | 0 | 267 | |
| 01987-03-31March 31, 1987 | Delta, Pennsylvania, United States | Peach Bottom units 2 and 3 shutdown due to cooling malfunctions and unexplained equipment problems | 0 | 400 | |
| 01987-12-19December 19, 1987 | Lycoming, New York, United States | Malfunctions force Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation to shut down Nine Mile Point Unit 1 | 0 | 150 | |
| 01989-03-17March 17, 1989 | Lusby, Maryland, United States | Inspections at Calvert Cliff Units 1 and 2 reveal cracks at pressurized heater sleeves, forcing extended shutdowns | 0 | 120 | |
| 01992-03-01March 1992 | Sosnovyi Bor, Leningrad Oblast, Russia | An accident at the Sosnovy Bor nuclear plant leaked radioactive gases and iodine into the air through a ruptured fuel channel. | |||
| 01996-02-20February 20, 1996 | Waterford, Connecticut, United States | Leaking valve forces shutdown Millstone Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2, multiple equipment failures found | 0 | 254 | |
| 01996-09-02September 2, 1996 | Crystal River, Florida, United States | Balance-of-plant equipment malfunction forces shutdown and extensive repairs at Crystal River Unit 3 | 0 | 384 | |
| 01999-09-30September 30, 1999 | Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan | Tokaimura nuclear accident killed two workers, and exposed one more to radiation levels above permissible limits. | 2 | 54 | 4 |
| 02002-02-16February 16, 2002 | Oak Harbor, Ohio, United States | Severe corrosion of control rod forces 24-month outage of Davis-Besse reactor | 0 | 143 | 3 |
| 02004-08-09August 9, 2004 | Fukui Prefecture, Japan | Steam explosion at Mihama Nuclear Power Plant kills 5 workers and injures 6 more | 5 | 9 | 1 |
| 02006-07-25July 25, 2006 | Forsmark, Sweden | An electrical fault at Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant caused one reactor to be shut down | 0 | 100 | 2 |
| 02011-03-11March 11, 2011 | Fukushima, Japan | A tsunami flooded and damaged the 5 active reactor plants drowning two workers. Loss of backup electrical power led to overheating, meltdowns, and evacuations. One man died suddenly while carrying equipment during the clean-up. | 1 non nuclear accident caused. | 7 |
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